


try, try again

by Ink_On_Parchment



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Family, Friendship, Gen, Spoilers for The Stolen Century, Temporary Character Death, Temporary Character Death - The Stolen Century (The Adventure Zone)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28558248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ink_On_Parchment/pseuds/Ink_On_Parchment
Summary: There's an enemy approaching. Taako takes a stand.The years only one of them die are the worst.
Relationships: Barry Bluejeans & Lup, Barry Bluejeans & Taako, Barry Bluejeans/Lup
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	try, try again

It's a hollow, achey sort of exhaustion, the feeling of running out of spell slots. He holds out a hand and visualizes the end result of _finger of death_ and feels it search him out, scour him down, hook behind his vertebrae and tug because this is the moment he has nothing left to give. The green light of the spell fizzles out in his hand and they just keep coming, an onslaught he cannot see the end of.

He grips the hilt of a sword he wishes he hadn't needed to learn how to use. Magnus is down somewhere to his left, a heap of bone and blood and memories that he can neither get to nor save. Lup is out cold at his back, spell slots burnt out in an inferno that got them as far as they did. The sunlight in this single sun world is pale, and he thinks for a wild moment that the weather is too nice for them to all die this way.

"Barry." Taako's voice is hoarse. "Barold, I need you to listen to me."

His breath shudders in his lungs, but the sword in his hand is steady. "'Course, Taako. What do you need?"

He looks sideways for just a moment, just long enough to make eye contact with Taako. There's ash in his hair, smudged down his face. It makes the cut on his hairline look worse than it is. His eyes are trained on the army marching unceasingly towards them, the knuckles wrapped around his focus showing a stark white through his skin. Despite the odds, no part of him shakes.

"I need you to go, Barry. I need you to get out of here."

A pit of ice opens up in Barry's stomach as he registers what he means. The empty, stubborn look in his eyes makes sense, as does the solid, unmoving stance. They've done it before, they all have, but they don't have to do it again. It gets both easier and harder as the years go by, to take a stand and tell their family to leave. To break their bodies for a world that might not make it, for six people who will get to breathe another couple weeks. But Taako doesn't have to do this. Not now. They can beat this.

"Taako-"

"Barry-" and his hands are steady but his voice breaks. "Take my sister and leave."

He doesn’t mention Magnus, but the desolate look in his eyes does it for him.

He glances back at where Lup is slumped, pale blue skin ashy in exhaustion and a bruise already forming along her browbone. She hasn't moved since she went down.

There is a hollowness in his chest that has nothing to do with his exhaustion, and he cannot forget the way his spells fizzled out in his hands. "Taako, I’m out of juice here. I can't get us back to the ship."

Taako’s throat bobs, and Barry can see the recalculation happening in his eyes. His already tight grip on his focus tightens. "I've got you, Bluejeans. I just need you get to yourselves out of here."

There are a million other ways he wishes this could go, a thousand words he wants to say. His magic is fizzling out against his skin as he stares, trying to get his mouth to work, trying to find a plan that will get them all out of here.

There's an army approaching. They don’t have time. He scrambles over to Lup and picks her up, cradles her head. She's out for the count, which is the only reason she’s letting this happen.

The years only one of them die are the worst.

"Are you sure?" Barry asks, and feels the weight of his sword on his back.

Taako’s eyes flicker from Barry’s face to Lup's still form back to the approaching army, and his shoulders set.

"As sure as we ever are, Barold." And he smiles, bright and empty and cold. There's fear and determination and something like pride warring in his eyes.

Barry knows that if he asked, Barry would fight right by his side without hesitation. He would fight and die beside him, would make this last stand with him. But that’s not what is happening.

The sounds of metal on metal, moving armor and weapons against shields, gets ever closer. He can make out individual soldiers instead of just a mass of armor, can see the tell-tale spark of magic as mages ready foci.

They’re getting closer.

"Good luck." He says. What he doesn’t say is _I’ll miss you. Lup is always devastated, even when it's short. Are you sure? Are you sure?_ But he hopes his face says it, hopes Taako knows.

"See you next time, Bluejeans."

As the teleportation spell shifts them, he gets a glimpse of the ground opening up, water rushing, the sky pouring down. The army approaching is swept away, a mess of bodies crushed in the tide of mud and rock and water, and a single red robe swept away with them.

His feet hit the ground near the Starblaster, Lup still a dead weight in his arms. Tears blur the after image of the carnage left behind, and he steps forward towards what’s left of his family as grief rushes over him.

Months later, after they mourn and study the light and put one foot in front of the other to get to the next year, they take off and feel the familiar reeling sensation of the reset. Barry loses his footing, as always, but blinks away the mind-spinning sensation of being remade to look around.

Magnus is standing closest to him, blinking quickly against the light of the room, familiar cut above his eye and _alive,_ blessedly alive. There’s chatter, but he doesn’t tune into anything as he turns, still clumsy, to find that Lup has already crossed the room in long bounds. Her arms are wrapped tight around Taako, her bright hair obscuring him from view.

When she leans back, Barry gets a good look at him. He looks the way he always does at the beginning of the year, they all do. The only one of them that carries injuries into the new year is Magnus, and Taako looks as healthy as always. When Lup takes a step back, hands still resting on Taako’s arms, Taako looks over her shoulder and that’s when they make eye contact.

He smiles, tired and sad but mostly grateful, and Barry can’t help but smile back. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!
> 
> If you want to come talk to me about TAZ (or any other fandom really, I've been bouncing around) you can find me on tumblr at ink-on-parxhment!


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